Microsoft: IE8 to support standards from the start

Aiming to demonstrate that its commitment to interoperability goes beyond fancy statements, Microsoft said Monday that it is shifting its plans for the next version of Internet Explorer to make the program more friendly to Web standards.

The software maker said that a planned standards compatibility mode will now be the default rendering engine when IE8 makes its debut. Microsoft has already said that the new browser is capable of passing the Acid2 rendering test.

"We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8's default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action," IE general manager Dean Hachamovitch said in a blog posting.

Anything that is more like OS X is on its way to becoming a better OS.

On another note, one thing I really like about Vista is the Search bar in the start menu.

It combines the search function and the Run function into one bar. It's pretty handy, with the real-time indexing, to be able to type the name of a program I want to find (if you have a large hard drive and lots of programs....sorting through them is a pain), and have it appear, along with all associated files.

An example....I only need to type "Half" and within a fraction of a second, all 4 of my Half-Life 2 games are listed (Half-Life 2, deathmatch, episode 1, lost coast), ready for me to choose which one to start.

I can also type "source" and both of my Source half-life 2 mods (counterstrike source and Day of defeat source) come up.

It's also nice because I don't like lots of clutter in terms of filling my taskbar with quick launch items and stuffing my desktop chock-full of shortcuts....you know how ugly that is.

I'm actually excited about this from a practical perspective. I use Firefox as my main browser, but when I'm designing web-sites I always find the minor differences between IE and FF beyond frustrating. If they both stick to the set web standards I'll be thrilled.